A Letter from the Arts Editor

Robert Colescott’s 1976 ‘Homage to Delacroix: Liberty Leading the People’ on view in the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art’s Between the world and me exhibit. Collection of Arlene and Harold Schnitzer.

Sometimes in our fair valley, it seems the only cultures deemed worthy of attention, or investment, are football and beer. Another gallery falls; another brewery rises. One more great local artist is lost to Portland — to opportunity — while Eugene funnels in more star players, more zealous fans and more Duck stuff.

Artists take heed: Paint your palettes yellow and green and let your kilns cook only the most bulbous growlers.

Oh, we tease. But in our third year of producing the visual arts issue, ArtsHound, it’s become clear that the best things — art that moves, heals, inspires and connects — come in quiet packages without much fanfare.

Many of the artists featured here work diligently holed up in their home studios. Finding them was half the fun, and then we had to coax them out of their holes like the sly, talented foxes they are.

In this year’s ArtsHound, we sought the art stories not often told, and artists and organizations whose names may not ring a bell, because they deserve a cheering section, too. Who knows, maybe we can get Eugene so excited about the arts that tailgating at exhibit openings becomes a new tradition. An arts editor can dream.